Wednesday 16 December 2009

The death of competition?


Man Utd v Wolves was the only game I didn't get into yesterday and there's a hell of a lot of fall out of this game.

Basically the Wolves boss, Mick 'Aye up' McCarthy made 10 changes to the side that beat Spurs away, with only the goalie surviving. It was pretty much a reserve side he put out because he said he widespread niggles and injuries in the camp. Or that's the story he's sticking too! Bear in mind this is a Utd team who just got beat at home, generally are considered not as solid as they once were and Sunderland ran ragged on their own turf.

It's all over Sky Sports News and Talksport - some of the chants last night from the Wolves faithful:
"42 quid, to watch the reserves" and
"Where has our first team gone?".
The mood among the Wolves fans was pretty vitriolic - AND I ABSOLUTELY DON'T BLAME THEM! Spending all that money (in the middle of recession and Christmas!) on the marque fixture of the season, for what? To be short changed, to be sold down the river by your own manager. McCarthy is a disgrace!

Betting-wise, what about the punters who layed ManU or backed the Wolves? It's like a backward version of match fixing. Someone mentioned on the radio that if Hull had done the same against Liverpool and Arsenal they'd have dropped 4 points and got themselves relegated. Imagine a jockey holding back because he's got a bigger race comming up which he's got more chance of winning.

So he's saved he's players for the Burnley tie. To quote Keegan, I'd love it, LOVE IT, it they got beat. He's put the pressure on himself, so come the end of the season and he's in a relegation dogfight there's no way he can complain about any of the top clubs sending out a weakend team against his fellow strugglers.

This is not the same as Arsenal sending out the kids for the Carling Cup as if they get knocked out, no other team directly benefits - there are no points at stake.

Is this what the 'Premier' League has come down to? A closed shop at the top and a race to be 4th from bottom. Where the hell is the competition in that? A lot of pundits having talking about the Championship and how 'amazing' the league is because anyone can beat anyone. Well - DUH! That's how it's supposed to be! If every game is a foregone conclusion, yes, even Man Utd fans would get bored of it. The Championship is how the Premier League or Division 1 used to be until the rule of sharing the gate reciepts was abolished, so the big clubs got bigger and everyone else got trampled on.

I'm off to put a tenner on Burnley for the win - & a win for competition.

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